A/N 7/16/2019: I know that it has been an ungodly amount of time since I have written. Life has gotten hectic. Divorce is finally going through. New man. New car. Dad's truck finally kicked the bucket. Also, new line at work, and this one seems to be working straight 9's and 10's with more Saturdays than not. With all of that going on, I have had literally NO time to write, and real life trumps fanfics, y'all. I'm hoping to have a new chapter for DFTR up soon, but I'm not holding my breath on that one and neither should y'all. Also, the next chapter for this will be the last, but I just wanted to get something up that I had while I had the time. Thank you for all of my loyalists that are sticking with me. Nothing is abandoned. I just need to find the fracking time to write!

They had wondered the sewers until sunrise, ensuring that they were far enough away from the possessed mob, before they once again sought the surface. Ankhara was in awe at the subterranean tunnels. Civilization had come so far since the time of her people.

Once rejoining the surface world, the fair skinned medjai had informed the princess's brother and Ardeth on their next stop. Ardeth had told her that they were going to seek out a man who had the means to fly! Again, such wonders!

However, seeing the man who was rumored to have the ability to fly caused her to raise a skeptical eyebrow. The man was corpulent. And he seemed contented enough to sit back drinking a pungent concoction out of a brightly colored cup. He was also listening to some sort of teeth grinding music coming out of a funny horn.

"This man flies?" she asked Ardeth.

"Yes. According to O'Connell, he was once an aerial fighter. A very good one."

"Morning Winston! Uh, A word?" O'Connell asked of the man as they made their way to him at the top of a sand dune.

"What's you little problem got to do with His Majesty's Royal Air Corps?" Winston asked after he had listened to Rick speak for a good five minutes.

"Not a damn thing," he deadpanned.

"Is it dangerous?" Winston asked, setting his cup aside.

"You probably won't live through it," Rick said honestly.

"By Jove, do you really think so?"

"Well, everybody else we've bumped into has died. Why not you?" Jonathan said, throwing in his two cents.

"What's the… uh...What's the challenge, then?"

"Rescue the damsel in distress, kill the bad guy, and save the world," Rick listed off.

Winston laughed. "Winston Havlock at your service, sir," he said proudly, giving Rick a salute.

~~~~~~~~~)O(~~~~~~~~~

Ankhara decided to follow them. The plane, as she had been told was the name of the contraption that allowed them to fly, only alloted them one passenger and two more strapped to the wings. And no offense to modern advances, but Ankhara felt she would feel better with herself completely on the ground. So she followed through the sands. It wasn't flashy. It only looked like a ripple of sand caught in the wind. Being a part of the sands though, allowed her to get in touch with every fiber of her homeland. As such, she was able to feel Imhotep as he too travel the sands, though more ostentatiously. He had created a large dust devil to travel in with his two passengers. Because he was focusing on no killing them, he wasn't paying attention to her presence. This was a boon, and she wasn't about to ruin it by announcing her presence just yet.

The large sand tornado spat out Evy and Beni as it coalesced into the shape of the man she loved. They weren't far from Hamunaptra now. Only another half a day's ride by the chariots of her day. Imhotep's attention was drawn to the plan in the air, and she felt his mood shift from his momentary bit of triumph to annoyance and anger. He summoned the sands around her and created a wall that shot into the air. Ankhara allowed the winds he was guiding to push her forward as she raced the sup,ernatural creation to stand between him and her friends.

The little plane did everything it could to out fly storm and keep in front of it, but they didn't understand that so long as they flew over Egypt, they were at his mercy. She was too late to keep him from overtaking the plane. Imhotep had quite literally, swallowed the little plane in his created storm. But she too had power here. Power not born from a curse, but a blessing. And where Imhotep was controlling the sand from where he stood next to Evy and Beni, she, at the moment, was the sand.

Ankhara focused all of her will on calming the storm, and settling the sands. This also broke her cover, revealing herself to him as not one of the plane's passengers.

"WHY?! Why do you always interfere!" he yelled at her through the link.

"Even though it is my job to be your jailer, Imhotep, I am also much more than that. I am trying to save you," she struggled to say as she continued to focus on her task.

"Save me?" he scoffed. "I don't need saving!"

"But you do. Think, Imhotep, I've told you this before! Anck-Su-Namun already had the attentions of the most powerful man in Egypt. She was easily on her way to having the life that she wanted. Then she met you. Someone who held power over Death. Who had the ability to call back every part of the soul and knew the secrets of the Underworld, and how to circumvent it's hold. You know more than anyone, Death is not the end. And Death is the only certainty waiting at the end of everyone's life. You used to be so excited for your time. So sure that you would be able to move on to the Afterlife, and serve Lord Osiris."

The sands faltered. In his distraction, Evy had taken the initiative and distracted him by placing him in an awkward lip lock. The power struggle between Ankhara and Imhotep ground to an immediate halt as Imotep was surprised, and Ankhara looked on through the sand bemused.

"Well...That's one way to do it, I suppose," she mused. Evy looked on as the sands fell once more, and had a moment of jubilation before she realized that the plane was crashing. Ankhara would have followed, but her job was to keep an eye on Imhotep. Now that she knew where he was, she wasn't letting him out of her sights… er… sands.

It seemed that he had forgotten she was there for the moment as he watched the plane crash with the other two. He then walked on towards the long dead city, as it it were an every day occurance. Though he seemed a bit more hesitant in his steps and his eyes had the look of deep hoped that the seed she had planted would grow. It was the truth, after all. One so easily seen if you looked for it. Ankhara would give Anck-Su-Namun one thing, she had always been ambitious. Even to the point of her death, and after.

She followed them into the city as they descended once again into it's depths. Evy, ever the scholar, slowed as she took in the hieroglyphs on the walls. Beni gave her shoulder a sharp shove.

"Keep moving," he growled. Ankhara couldn't help but think he sounded more like a petulant child than a scary evil villain.

Evy looked at him. "You know, nasty little fellows such as yourself, always get their comeuppance," she mused.

"Really?" Beni asked in a disbelieving breathy chuckle. "They do?"

"Oh, yes. Always," she emphasized ominously, before she calmly walked on.

Ankhara could feel that the princess's brother and the two medjai had made it into the city, she had a vague curiosity as to what could have happened to their flying friend, but that they were currently trying to locate the book of Amun Ra. But they weren't as careful as she was. There was a loud banging echo as the fair skinned medjai used his weapon to kill a scarab. Imhotep, not wanting anyone to interfer, used the sand that had once been Anck-Su-Namun's liver, and blew it on the relief in front of him.

"Satay vapuku ra eck," he chanted, calling the spirits of his long departed priests once again to his service.

Ankhara could feel their souls crying out in agony, how could Imhotep miss it? They had been at peace. Judged and had, for the most part, moved on. But their master had called, and they answered. Bound by spells and oaths active even in death.

"Bembridge Scholars never wrote about this," Evy said nervously as she and Beni backed away from the two new mummies walking the realm of the living once again. They bowed to him and he to them in acknowledgement before giving them an order.

"Kill them...and wake the others."